Hector and the Seven Eggs
by Aoikami Sarah
Summary: Dr. Briefs many years ago... [was going to be longer, is a cute little one-shot tho ]


**Hector and the Seven Eggs**  
Rated: G  
Category: Drama  
Type: One-Shot  
Classification: What-If story. Universal rules for Dragonball apply.  
Main Characters: Dr. Briefs and Dr. Gero

****

**Hector and the Seven Eggs**

**by Aoi Kami Sarah**

**Ever wondered how the heck Capsules WORK!? Maybe this will get you thinking...**

Hector rubbed his eyes as he leaned on his elbows late one Thursday night. The cold steel of the lab table reflected the powerfull halogen lights and made his head throb a little more. Slumping down onto his folded arms, he looked sideways at the blueprints in front of him.  
"It'll never work," a man entered the large laboratory and commented. He was tall and square-shouldered. His long, auburn hair fell past his shoulders and he wore a self-assured grin.  
"I'm beginning to think you're right, Paul." Hector swivelled his chair around to face his colleague. "99 tests on 52 different systems and I still can't get the matter conversion syntax to reverse!"  
Paul strode up to him and studied the plans on the table. "How's the condention factor coming?"  
"It's crap. Once I get a mass condensed it's still just as heavy. How can I expect consumers to carry around a pill that weighs as much as a house!"  
Paul patted his friend on the back. "You're closer to capsulizing than you were two years ago," he said as he pulled a stool out and sat next to him. "A few more years is all it'll take!" He grinned slyly again.  
"This is beginning to be too stressful! Look!" Hector put a hand through his lavendar hair. "My hair's turning grey, and I'm only 29!"  
"Almost thirty," Paul chided.  
"You're not helping."  
"Sorry."   
The men sat in silence for a moment and shared a sigh.   
"Well, I came here tonight to tell you something, freind." Paul stood up and paced a few feet away from him.  
"Oh? What's up?"  
"You and I have been friends for what, seven years?"  
Hector nodded.  
"We've kept each other's secrets all that time, vowing never to reveal or steal the other's ideas. That will never change..."  
Hector wished he had some antacid. "What are you getting at, Paul?"  
"It's time I moved on."  
Hector gasped and jumped off his stool. "What!? Did you get a contract!?" he asked, incredulously.  
"In a way..."  
"Your androids..." he whispered. "It's about your androids, isn't it?"  
Paul nodded and turned his back. "I've been asked by a... private institution to work on further deveoping them... ALL EXPENSES PAID."  
Hector's jaw dropped. "That's GREAT! Wow! congradulations! I mean, I'll miss you and all, but that's wonderfull!" He sat back down, relieved that the news was good. "They wouldn't happen to want to develope mass condention would they?" He smiled innocently at this friend's back.  
"No. They wouldn't."  
Hector's smile faded. "Oh, it was just a joke, really."  
"No offence, you understand. But the Red Ribbon Army concerns themselves primarilly with weapons."  
Hector stood back up again and took a step toward his friend. "The Red Ribbon Army? Paul, they're terrorists!!"  
"They're also loaded. Do you realized what I could do with carte blanche? I could make an android so realistic, so perfect that it would be completely indiscernable from a living breathing man. I could make an artificial human!" Paul turned and faced his friend at last.  
Hector backed up a step when he saw the strange gleam in his eye.  
"I could even translate and transfer binary data from the cerebral cortext directly into an artifice, thereby granting a human eternal life! Don't you see, Briefs!? I could be immortal!!!"  
Hector was mortified. In all the years he had know Paul Gero he had always had a glint of something devious in his eye. In school they had called him the Mad Scientist. "Paul, don't you think that's wishful thinking?" he stuttered. "Our humanity is what keeps us grounded. We're men of science, but science does not rule our lives..."  
Paul laughed in Hector's face.  
"You and your silly zen mentality," he scoffed. "Science is king. To master it is to master all things and I will. Oh yes, you'll see, Briefs. Years from now while you're still trying to cram cars into peanuts I'll be on top of the world!!!"  
Hector could not reply. He clentched his teeth at the insults and at the air of true madness his friend exuded. He was lost to him now. Hector sighed and put out his hand.  
"Alright Paul. Good luck."  
Paul squinted at him, but then sneered and took his hand. "I won't need it."  
Hector nodded.  
Without a good-bye, Dr. Paul Gero turned on his heel and walked out the door. Before disspearing down the corridor he called out to his former colleague. "And good luck with your peanuts. You're going to need a miracle."  
  
*  
The telephone rang three times before Gina could hop across the room with only one pump on and pick it up. "Hello?" she asked in a bubbly voice while slipping the other shoe on her foot. "Oh! Hector-dear! I'm almost ready for our date. I.... What? You're cancelling!? But why, Hector-dear?" she sat down delicatly on an overstuffed sofa. "Oh, I see. Well, if you don't want to go out I'll cook for you! Nonsense! I'll be right over! Not another word, Hector-dear. It's my pleasure just to be with you!"  
She said good-bye and hung up the phone. Gina twirled on her tip-toes across the room and dove into her closet to find a dress more suitable for an at-home meal.

At 6:30 Gina rang appartment 5-G and was buzzed in. Hector was sloppily dressed in his button down shirt and pants as usual but his expression caught his girlfriend's attention.  
He looks so sad!' she thought to herself, and deciced to make it her mission to cheer him. Through the course of the evening her twinkling laughter and sweet smile slowly rose the young scientist's spirits.  
After a simple, yet well-cooked dinner, the couple sat in the tiny living room and listened to a jazz program on the radio. Gina invited Hector to rest his head in her lap and she ran her fingers soothingly through his greying hair.  
"Gina, why do you waste your time on a loser like me?"  
She looked down into his small, blue eyes with a shocked expression on her face. "A loser? Hector-dear, why are you calling yourself that!?"  
"Because I'm a failure! It's been two whole years now and I haven't done a thing! Pretty soon the review board will be on me for results and I have nothing to show for all their grant dollars!"  
"But Hector-dear, you haven't failed. You just haven't succeeded yet."  
He smiled up at her. Gina. The most optimistic person on the planet.  
"It would take a miracle for my capsule technology to succeed."  
She smiled back. "Maybe that's just what you need."  
He raised a brow, but she continued to stroke his hair and looked far off. He could tell that she was gearing up to tell a story.

"It is said that people who's intentions are right and who's hearts are courageous and pure can find a solution to any problem and overcome any obstacle in their path.   
"In ancient times, there were stories of wise men who's eternal questions lead them down narrow roads. When they could find no end to their troubles, they would take their questions to the mountains. There they would question the dragon god.   
"He was a benevolent god and would charge the seeker with a quest. If he could locate and return the dragon god's eggs, he might have any wish he so chose; an answer to his question; a solution for his strife; an end to his troubles.  
"Many people believe that emporer Yaun Che Tse went on such a quest. He ruled in a dificult time when clan wars and dissention were rampant in his kingdom. Shortly after he returned peace settled over the land. Emporer Tse ruled for a hundred years with a just hand and fought not one battle for the rest of his years. He had wished for the ability to solve his people's arguments in a peaceful and equal manner."  
  
Gina looked back into Hector's eyes. They were half open, but he was listening.   
"I still don't know why you stay with me."  
"Because you don't treat me bad or think I'm dumb like all the other guys do just because I'm pretty."  
"You're not pretty."  
"Oh!"  
"You're beautiful."  
"Ohhhh..." she cooed. "And you're so smart. I need someone who's smart. Because, I am kinda dumb..."  
"Gina..."  
"It's true. I'm a blond!" She shrugged.  
"Well, I must be too, because I can't transmogrify matter to save my life!"  
"Hector-dear. You can do anything. I believe in you." She bowed and kissed him very gently on the lips.  
"Gina," he smiled. "Let's go look for the dragon god's eggs."  
"Ok, Hector-dear. Tomorrow."  
  
*  
-Aoi Kami Sarah

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